Government buys $2.5 million in Super Bowl ads to boost census

Associated Press This video frame grab image provided by the Census Bureau shows a scene from their advertisement to be shown during Sunday's Super Bowl. Faced with record levels of red ink into the foreseeable future, Washington is spending $2.5 million to create buzz for the census _ by advertising during the Super Bowl.

WASHINGTON --
Faced with record levels of red ink into the foreseeable future,
Washington is spending $2.5 million to create buzz for the census -- by
advertising during the Super Bowl.

The Census Bureau is hoping to
exploit the strong ratings from this annual attraction, aiming to get
more participation from people who now seem disinclined to mail back a
government questionnaire or even answer the door.

Census
officials call it a good investment, saying the front-end costs of
purchasing the ads can be quickly recouped if they succeed in
encouraging people to mail back their census forms. A recent poll found
nearly 1 in 5 residents said they may not fill them out, mostly because
they were unfamiliar with the census or weren't interested.

The
government relies on the census not only to learn about Americans and
their lives but also to parcel out federal dollars and, as required by
the Constitution, to determine the number of U.S. House seats
representing each state. The census officially began last month in
rural Alaska, and most of the U.S. will receive forms by mail the week
of March 15.

Not everyone is happy about spending taxpayer money to tout the census during the Super Bowl.

Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., tweeted this week that the government "shouldn't
be wasting $2.5 million taxpayer dollars to compete with ads for
Doritos!" Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., called on the Census Bureau to
justify every dollar of its $133 million ad campaign, citing the tight
economic times.

There's no such lack of interest on the part of
the mayors, county commissioners, governors, U.S. House members and
state legislators -- a host of public figures ranging from city hall to
the U.S. Capitol. Those people hang on every census because the head
count determines the size and shape of legislative districts and,
equally critical, just how much money the various localities get from
some $400 billion in federal aid.

Plans for the Super Bowl
commercials come after the House voted Thursday to increase America's
debt by $1.9 trillion -- to $14.3 trillion -- or over $40,000 for every
man, woman and child the Census Bureau hopes to catch in its count.

In
the ads, actor Ed Begley Jr. plays a film director who discusses with
flourish a new project that will create a portrait of "every man, woman
and child in this beautiful country of ours ... a snapshot of America."
Looking quizzically, two onlookers whisper, "Isn't that what the Census
is doing?"

It's an ad buy the Census Bureau believes worked well
during the 2000 census, when it ran similar spots during the Super Bowl
for the first time. This year's $2.5 million deal, which the agency
says could reach 45 percent of all U.S. adults, includes two 30-second
pregame spots, two or three on-air mentions by sportscaster James Brown
and a 30-second ad during the third-quarter.

The Census Bureau
says few events can match the Super Bowl's reach of 100 million TV
viewers. That's because for every percentage point increase in the mail
response rate, it saves an additional $85 million to find and count
those people.

"The Super Bowl is the top-rated and most highly
anticipated television event in the U.S.," Census director Robert
Groves wrote in a blog post Friday. "Advertisers are mentioned in
multiple news media outlets and viewers will typically look to view
them online almost immediately after airing. Therefore, airing once in
the Super Bowl creates significant buzz leading to additional viewing
potential."

The government plans additional census spots during
the Winter Olympics and the Daytona 500, as well as road tours
throughout the country, including the Mardi Gras celebrations in New
Orleans and Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco.

Segments are also planned in social media, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube.

Subsequent
census ads will encourage people to mail in their form with themes such
as "It's in your hands" and "We can't move forward until you mail it
back." They will be followed later by spots aimed at letting people
know that census-takers may be visiting their homes.

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